ENOUGH!!

ENOUGH!!

Last night Brandon and I had the privilege of attending the MOMA’s House Open Door Ceremony. This is my 3rd year in attendance, and it was just as beautiful as ever!

MOMA’s House is a safe house for women who have survived domestic violence or sex trafficking. You can learn more about their residential housing, life/career skills, and support programs here.

Last night we celebrated 8 years of MOMA’s House existence, the amazing support of interior designers who remodeled the women’s rooms completely pro-bono just last month, a team of web designers who redesigned the website pro-bono (will launch January 1st), and most importantly: a courageous, dedicated, and strong woman who graduated the program last night. She is a conqueror and we are all extremely excited to see how she allows God to use her next!

The night was filled with jokes and laughter. The keynote speaker reminded us of the gravity of the injustices MOMA’s House faces, outlining the history of a nearly non-existent fight to stop violence against women until the last 30 years. Domestic violence costs the United States tens of billions of dollars per year, and MOMA’s House does their work for less than $500/month at times!

But it was the last speaker who put us all in tears last night. He walked on stage and just repeated, “ENOUGH!” He explained his weariness of hearing stories of our women and girls being treated less than human. He expressed his anger at all the people “making a difference” simply sitting around the table talking about it and never really doing it. And he grieved at the fact that it doesn’t matter how many women we rescue, we still don’t have enough places designed to help them; everyone is maxed out. At the end of the day, this is the reality: shelters and safe houses cannot keep up with the need, oftentimes turning women away because there are no available beds, and at the same time they are closing their doors because funding is not there to sustain what does exist.

So I echo what was said last night: ENOUGH! If you are reading this, don’t just talk about injustice, do something to end injustice! The first need is always a safe place for victims, and these facilities work the same way as your home does: someone has to write the check to pay the bill for the lights to stay on. Without the lights on there is no home. Without the lights on there are no safe houses. $500/month is not enough to meet the needs the way they need to be met.